A public company can run a search-fund program by hiring searchers as employees, letting them find and then run one business, and giving them equity in that business. Kingsway Corporation (NYSE: KWY, formerly Kingsway Financial Services) does this through Kingsway Search Xcelerator, or KSX. As of October 2026, its filings show a first searcher hired in May 2020, ten KSX subsidiaries, and KSX revenue of $64.2 million and adjusted EBITDA of $9.5 million for 2025. My view is that the model removes the investor fund and the forced sale, but moves the risk to the public shareholders.
Kingsway is a Delaware holding company with U.S. operating subsidiaries. On May 19, 2026 it changed its name to Kingsway Corporation and its NYSE ticker to KWY, after 99.7% shareholder support at its annual meeting, according to its May 2026 Form 8-K release. It calls itself the only publicly traded U.S. company employing the search fund model. That is the company’s own description.
It matters because it answers a question most searchers never ask: what if the parent is public and the search is a standing program? The company reports two segments, KSX and Extended Warranty. Its 2025 Kingsway FY2025 Form 10-K says the first searcher was hired in May 2020.
The 10-K describes these features:
The 10-K does not describe a separate outside investor fund or give the searchers’ equity percentages. I have not assumed any. The first searcher found Ravix, which Kingsway bought in October 2021, about 17 months after the hire. On August 3, 2026 the company announced that Fletcher Vynne had joined as its newest operator-in-residence, per a company release.
Each figure is as reported by the company.
The company reported that KSX revenue grew 58.5% in 2025 and KSX adjusted EBITDA grew 40.8%, with acquisitions contributing. The company also reported that Extended Warranty adjusted EBITDA fell from $7.5 million to $3.1 million, so the second segment did not grow alongside KSX. The company’s Q1 2026 release also lists net debt of $63.9 million at March 31, 2026 and a consolidated net loss of $2.2 million for the quarter.
Two points remain open from the filings I read. The searchers’ returns are not disclosed. And the 10-K’s risk factors name concentration in specific businesses, for example Roundhouse’s exposure to the Permian Basin. Treat the growth as reported results, not proof that the model works at any size.
What transfers: a standing search program, searchers paid with equity in the business they run, and acquisition debt kept at the subsidiary level. These can be copied by a private holding company too.
What does not: a NYSE listing, a finance team that files quarterly and audited statements, and public reporting that puts any quarterly net loss in view. A holding company that is not yet listed has to build those first; see What finance team does a public holding company need?.
The company reported that Image Solutions bought Romeo Computer Company on August 1, 2026 for $2.4 million, with about $2.5 million of unaudited pro forma annual revenue and $0.5 million of pro forma adjusted EBITDA. The price is 4.8 times pro forma adjusted EBITDA ($2.4M / $0.5M) and about 0.96 times revenue ($2.4M / $2.5M). Compare KSX as a whole: 2025 adjusted EBITDA of $9.5 million on $64.2 million of revenue is a 14.8% margin.
Where these numbers come from: All Kingsway figures are the company’s own, from the Kingsway FY2025 Form 10-K, the Kingsway fourth quarter and full year 2025 release, the second quarter 2026 release, the Q1 2026 release and the Form 10-Q. The ratios are my arithmetic.
Not in the traditional sense. It describes its model as a search fund approach inside a listed company, with searchers as employees.
The searcher gets stock-based grants in the acquired company that vest over time and on performance. The filing does not give the percentage.
Yes, without the listing. It needs capital, a source of searchers and a plan for what the searcher earns.
To see how a company moves from one deal toward a listing, read From one acquisition to a listed serial acquirer: what are the milestones?.
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